Ellen Swepson Jackson

Ellen Swepson Jackson (1935 – 2005) was an American educator and activist. She is best known for founding Operation Exodus, a program that bused students from overcrowded, predominantly black Boston schools to less crowded, predominantly white schools in the 1960s. The program paved the way for the desegregation of Boston's public schools.

Early life and education

Jackson was born in Boston on October 29, 1935, the middle child of David and Marguerite Booker Swepson. She grew up in the Sugar Hill section of Roxbury and attended Girls' Latin School. As a teen she belonged to the NAACP Youth Council. She graduated from Boston State College in 1958 and received her master's degree in education from Harvard University in 1971.

In 1954, during her first year of college, she married Hugo Jackson. The couple had five children. They founded a program called Operation Exodus, with Jackson as executive director. From 1965 to 1969, the program transported over 1,000 students to less crowded schools.

Jackson was a delegate to several White House Conferences. In 1972 she was a delegate and member of the Democratic Platform Committee, and gave a convention speech titled "Rights, Power and Social Justice." She was involved with many charitable and civic organizations, including the Young Women's Leadership Development Program, the Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Boston Chamber of Commerce, the American Association for Higher Education, the Governor's Community Development Coordinating Council, and Boston Children's Hospital, among others.

Publications